Creating a Living Legacy: Gladys Triana

Can you share what has changed for you as a result of being a part of the CALL program?
I now have a better understanding of the overall significance and purpose of having my own database. As a result of being in the CALL program my work is now organized, inventoried and protected in a way that it was not before. I feel confident that I will continue to document and archive my work from now and onward.

Can you give us a sense of what needed to be accomplished when you started working with the CALL program?
I was in the process of organizing images for a monograph of my work when I learned I was selected for the CALL opportunity. The CALL program was crucial in giving me the capacity to organize my work. Through this experience I was able to save most of my sketches and preliminary drawings that were stored in envelopes without the proper archival wrappings. It was also very important to sign my work and give them each an inventory number with a year and description of the medium. This program was not just about me preserving my work through a database system but also about incorporating into my professional practice a physical system for organizing my studio space.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of this work?
With the help of my Legacy Specialist, Antonia Perez, I discovered a way of integrating this process of documenting my work into my daily studio-practice. The actual uncovering and rediscovering works from different points in my career was the most rewarding part of the program. I truly feel grateful for the opportunity to reconstruct my whole career through this CALL experience.

What has been most difficult?
The most difficult part of this experience is entering the information into the database and relying on my memory to capture all the details.

What do you recommend to artists who might be in the early stages of creating an inventorying system?
You must be ready to do this work, it requires a special kind of patience but the results are invaluable.